Last weekend, I decided to have a break at the Fort Canning Park with my new laptop- ASUS N53SV. It was something unusual but it was a great experience for me as I'm a nature-lover. Having to relax under a big shady tree with my laptop while enjoying the view of the surrounding greenery make me feel so GREAT.

Do you know?In 1972, the greenery around Fort Canning was known as Central Park with the amalgamation of the King George V Park (set up prior to World War II) and the land occupied by the British Armed Forces. The River Valley Road end of the park used to house the National Theatre and the Van Kleef Aquarium. It also had a roller-skating rink, a playground, a Vietnamese restaurant and a squash centre.

It was renamed Fort Canning Park with the planting of a fruit tree by then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on 1 November 1981. Today, Fort Canning has been converted into a historical Park. It is also a popular location for picnics, cultural performances and Wedding Photography.

Fort Canning Centre

AS I was taking a stroll at the park, I saw some artworks displayed and this was one of them. It is named as Holy Audience

The artist wrote: "To me, the cow is a symbol of unconditional love; something that I felt very deeply. It is a metaphor that occues very naturally in my art, as a channel through which I comment on my surroundings and reflect upon my opinions in an immensel stylistic manner, without no daunting need for actual words."

Yes that is my ASUS N53SV (Top view)! This machine looks really cool with a brushed aluminum lid right. Suitable for work and home entertainment use.

At work: Deliver speedy performance when doing many tasks such as running office applications or managing files.

At home: Turn up the volume and get impressed by the audio of this notebook. ASUS sonicmaster technology-co-developed by world-renowned audio specialists at bang & olufsen icepower-and a unique top-mounted speaker plot, this multimedia powerhouse integrates hardware and audio for an unsurpassed, ear-pleasing feel.

Boasting new nvidia geforce gt 540m visibles, the n53sv excels when performing visible-intensive schemes like video editing, directx 11-enabled gaming, and visible rendering. And together with asus videomagic 3-in-1 software package, you procure image-enhancing agendas like powerdvd 9 together with faithful theatre that instantly scales dvd-quality to full 1080p hd together with smoother shape values so you can enjoy videos and movies in the quality they deserve.

This is like watching a concert at home!

This is the back view.

The left side of the notebook has the 3-in-1 memory card reader supporting SD, MS, and MMC formats, a big cooling grate, and a couple of USB ports along with an HDMI output.

The right side of the ASUS N53SV has the bulk of the ports with the headphone and mic ports, two USB ports, and the optical drive. There is also a toggle switch you can see directly behind the DVD drive to turn the wireless connection.

There is also a Webcam with resolution up to 2.0 MagaPixel in front. Camera slider with Cover for open-close lens.

Keyboard and touchpad are pretty good on the Asus N53SV too. I like the closely packed keys on the keyboard deck which are nice for typing, and the dedicated number pad on the right doesn’t hurt either -- great addition for gamers and frequent number crunchers.

A few hotkeys can be found above the keyboard's left which, for example, allow controlling the volume output. There is also a button for direct multimedia control (play/pause) here. The left button controls the energy saving options (high performance, office, energy savings, etc.).

The N53SV laptop's speaker grille is placed prominently above the keyboard, which is another nice addition.

The touchpad sits submerged in the middle of a wide palmrest. The touchpad itself is nice and wide and easy to use, it’s gesture-enabled as well. The singe strip mouse button below the Asus N53SV laptop’s touchpad is user-friendly too.

This technology is co-developed by world famous Bang & Olufesen ICEpower which bings living audio to notebook PCs! The superior speaker construction and resonance chambers creates a impactful enjoyment for you. It’s like listening LIVE in a concert! There’s even different mode for you to choose from! Really loved it! Say bye bye to soft volume and noise distortion !

Now included is USB 3.0 for up to ten times the speed of USB 2.0, so all your files and content can be handled and backed up expediently. Say goodbye to long frustrating waits, as even a 25GB Blu-ray movie takes a mere 70 seconds to process.

The newly-introduced NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M discrete graphics processing unit makes a world of difference when it comes to smooth visuals. It drives performance, enabling detailed gaming with the newest titles on PC, plus it helps accelerate high definition video playback. By taking the strain off the CPU and providing considerable graphics processing muscle, this Fermi-based, DirectX 11 GPU upgrades your experience beyond the norm for a portable PC.

The USB3.0 port which is 10 times faster, meaning transfering you data, images, music will be completed in split seconds!

And ya do you know what I found at Fort Canning Park?A Cannonball!!! Scroll down and read more...

Yes this are actually the flowers of the Cannonball Tree!The tree (scientific name Couroupita guianensis is native to the south of the Caribbean and to the northern parts of South America. Yet it has also been growing in India for at least two to three thousand years and the jury is out whether it is native there or somehow the trees were transported across the continents several thousand years ago.

Why is the name Cannonball Tree?This is because they bears fruit that shaped like a cannonball. When these 10-inch spheres fall from above and hit the ground, they crack open with a sound like a cannon firing.

Omg!!! This is the Cannonball!!! I saw it under the tree and decided to take a photo and show you all. The fruit is pretty heavy and as from the information found online, it may weighs up to 4 kg. That is even heavier than my laptop weighing 2.70 kg(with 6 cell battery). =)

Have a break and visit the Fort Canning Park one day and you will find the beauty of nature and also enjoy some personal time. I had a great day at Fort Canning Park and especially using my ASUS N53SV notebook which gives me all the entertainment (Youtube video, blogging, music listening, checking emails) I wanted anytime anywhere. =)

Bring your notebook along and have fun too!

If you enjoy reading my blog, please give me a vote.Click here to find out how to vote for me by 3 July 2011.

Well, beside just working and working or studying and studying... Why not take up a course and learn something you like?

It can be singing, dancing, cooking or even learn Japanese language. You will most likely get to know new friends and had fun!!! =)

Last night (28 Jun 2011), I attended a Gourmet Cooking Workshop with Chef Eric Low at The Serangoon CC (Just Opposite my house). Cooking had always been one of my favourite past time but I had never attend any of such workshop before. So it was my 1st time attending yesterday and it was really an eye-opening experience for me.

I love the building. As you can see the the exterior of the building had lots of colours.There are also many facilities and course for public to sign up. At the CC, there is also a study room which is a good & quiet place for study.

Okay! I'm in the Gourmet Cooking Workshop with Chef Eric Low! Wondering what is Chef Eric going to teach us today?

About 20 over students attended the workshop and Chef Eric is going to teach us Japanese Cuisine! We will be learning how to make Japanese Potato Salad, Japanese Braised Pork Belly (Buta Kakuni) and Japanese Fried Rice (Nikkiniku Chahan). I'm a Japanese Food Lover and this is going to be so cool learning how to cook them. Scroll down and see the 3 recipes below!!!1. Japanese Potato Salad (4 Portions)

Thanks Gina for her submission! I can see you had an enjoyable moment with your family! Family is one of the most important aspects of life. Therefore, spending time with family should be very valuable to anyone. By doing this will strengthen the family’s relationship and help keep them together. We should all dedicate at least one day a week to family. A day where members of the family go to movies, eat out at a local restaurant, enjoy the outdoors or just stay inside and talk for a while. Families must enjoy each other company in order to stay together.

Think you also have a photo of your “HAVE A BREAK“ Moment to share with us? It can be catching up with friend at a dinner, having fun at the beach or simply shopping at Orchard Road.Send them in and stand to win a $200 Kit Kat Hamper!!!

How to win: Send in your picture with a short caption to contestempire@gmail.com, with your name and contact number. Be sure to include "Have a Break Photo Contest" in the subject of the e-mail.

OMG!!! This is seriously TEMPTING!!!Have you try the Manhattan Seafood Platter for 2?I'm so in love with it! Usual price is $35.90++ and is now $29.90++!

The Manhattan Seafood Platter for 2 comes with Fish N Chips's fillet, fried calamari, juicy oysters over a bed of the must have garlic herb rice and chips, drizzle with our signature Garlic herb sauce and not to forget, the most unique flaming prawns that makes you "Wowwww......" when flamed right in front of you by the flame artist.....

I love to see them do the flaming! It's so COOL and I love the smell of the grill prawn!Evertime when I ordered this Seafood Platter, I will start eating the grilled prawns 1st!!! Yummy!!!

Were you at the Singapore Social Media Day Event yesterday held at *Scape yesterday?

Lot of bloggers gathered there to celebrate Social Media Day in Singapore for the 1st time.

SGSMD 2011 is an adaptation of World Social Media Day, which was initiated by internet news blog Mashable in 2010 and celebrated on 30 June during its first year.

This Event was initiated by a group of volunteer bloggers and supported by a group of social media enthusiasts. The event is presented by HTC and supported by omy.sg, Singapore’s leading news and entertainment web portal by Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH).

To express the spirit of Social Media, the organising committee has come up with a simple yet highly apt tag word “SoMe!” , which apart from being an abbreviation of Social Media, also speaks volumes about how people of today engage various social media channels to express themselves on a daily basis.

Beside having games and fun there, we also giving back to the society via donations to a charitable cause! And I really felt this was really meaningful that bloggers can also do their part! (Read more here)

I dropped my donation and was given a lucky draw form and also a game card

"SoMe" Facebook Wall so cute!!! It is a real wall for you to leave comment!!!

I left my comment there too! Haha...

A photo with Mint who was the committee member of the event.

Blogshop Owners setting up booths there in A Good Cost For A Good Cause!

At one of the booths I saw many soft toys. Angry Bird so CUTE right!!!

Talent Perfomance to entertain the crowd.

Tissue Blowing Game with the audience.

The Audience get to pair up with Bloggers for Creative Sandwich Making Contest.

Blogger Calvin was one of the game in-charge.

Bloggers were given limited ingredient for making their Sandwich. Hemm.. the above picture you can tell how limited of ingredients they have for the contest. But the blogger were very nice, they shared the ingredient. PEACE!

Contestants discussing how they want to make their Sandwich. It's alway good to discuss and plan 1st. Contestants were given 10 mins to do their Sandwiches.

Okies 10 mins up! The judges stepped in and give scoring to their work.

Can u tell what is this? Yes it is an Angry Bird. Cute right!!! The Angry bird was made with white bread spread with Chilli Sauce and topped with Cheese and Luncheon Meat. Very Creative! And that is done by our blogger, AndyStorm.